Who are Democracy Action? According to their website they stand for:

a representative democracy, where:

• every vote has equal weight, and no unreasonable restrictions can apply to anyone seeking to become a representative
• only elected and accountable members on our governing bodies have voting rights
• resisting the notion that birth or background should entitle anyone to a greater voice in the process of governing

They’ve been brought to my attention today by Jo Holmes. Jo has published DA’s press release on the New Plymouth Maori council issue along with some excellent commentary. The DA Presser is spot on-

RACIST’ RHETORIC CALLED OUT

Democracy Action is calling out New Plymouth Mayor Andrew Judd and members of the media, for labelling those who stand for equality before the law as ‘racist’.

The group today made a complaint to the Broadcasting Standards Authority regarding a highly biased story which suggested those who opposed Mr Judd’s attempts to force upon the council wards based on race were “Nazis”, “racist” and “bigoted”.

The group is also backing the comments made by Mike Hosking on Seven Sharp on Thursday 5 May.

Democracy Action Chairman, Lee Short, says:

“Those who resist efforts by politicians forcing radical reform of New Zealand’s local government structure without support of their constituency aren’t racist. They’re simply protecting the democratic institutions on which our country is based.”

“What Mr Judd and others are doing is trying to frame their political opponents as ‘extremists’ or ‘racists’. It is a common, albeit lazy, attempt to try to silence your opponents and we’re calling them out on it,” Mr Short says.

“Believing that our rights when we enter the polling booth should be different based on a person’s ancestry is very troubling. Indeed, it’s the very essence of what Article 3 of te Tiriti o Waitangi protected against when Maori were given the same rights and privileges of British subjects.

Those who believe democratic privileges should be awarded based on race should be looking in the mirror before they use the label “racist” so loosely.”